Mike Francesa on Gary Sánchez controversy: 'I don't believe for a second that he's hurt'

New York Yankees catcher Gary Sánchez is hurt. The 25-year-old was placed on the disabled list Tuesday, and could miss up to a month due to a groin injury.

Unfortunately for Sánchez, his injury came a day after he failed to run out a ground ball in a Yankees’ loss. Because of that, there are some who don’t believe Sánchez is actually injured. Count New York radio host Mike Francesa among that group.

What did Mike Francesa say about Gary Sánchez?

When Francesa first heard about the injury, he was skeptical. Even after he found out Sánchez was going on the disabled list, Francesa still questioned the veracity of the injury.

Dr. Francesa gets word that Gary Sanchez may have an injury. He's not buying it. After one commercial, Mike breaks in and reports that Sanchez is going on the DL. You can't make it up. 😂 pic.twitter.com/3oCRiCUmJv

“All right, we’re hearing now that he’s going to the DL — Sanchez. And that they gave him an MRI today, and he has an injury. Here’s what I say about that: He probably had an injury for a while, but I’m telling ya, I’m not buying last night that that was about an injury. Because if you watch the tape of him going down to first base, when he realized what was going on, he tried to bust it. He was not a guy who was limping down to first base. He was not a guy — and then after the game, he never once said he was hurt. Not one time. He talked about the passed ball. He talked about the end of the game. Not one time did he say ‘I felt something. I hurt something.’ Not one time did he say that.”

Since that quote, it was revealed Sánchez could miss up to a month. Perhaps Francesa softened his stance after hearing that news.

Is Mike Francesa right about Gary Sánchez?

He is not. Sánchez is hurt. The Yankees wouldn’t place him on the 10-day disabled list to cover for him, and they wouldn’t do it as a weird punishment either. But even if you’re willing to still believe there’s some conspiracy, the Yankees would definitely not keep him sidelined for up to month because he failed to run out a ball. And Sánchez would not fake an injury that would keep him out that long.

It’s possible that Francesa’s line about Sánchez having the injury for a while is correct, but that doesn’t change anything here. Sánchez may have been hurt and that may have impacted him from giving full effort. Francesa mentions Sánchez wasn’t limping and tried to run fast at the end of the play, but it’s possible that’s what aggravated his injury. And to his point about Sánchez not talking about the injury … plenty of players hide minor injuries from the media. That’s not uncommon.

Where does the Gary Sánchez controversy go from here?

Probably nowhere. Sánchez will focus on getting healthy and helping the Yankees try to win the American League East whenever he’s back. Francesa will continue spouting off hot takes that make him one of the most popular sports radio hosts around. We are talking about the same guy who believed he could manage in the majors right now.